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Millions of people are lactose intolerant. They are unable to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk. If you are one of them, you do not have enough enzymes called lactase, which breaks down lactose so it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. The most common symptoms of lactose intolerance are nausea, cramping, bloating, gas, and diarrhea. Lactose intolerance is actually very easy to treat…avoid foods like milk that contain lactose.

If you are lactose intolerant but just love moo juice, try lactase enzymes. They are available without a prescription. One type is a liquid that you put in your milk container and wait 24 hours. This reduces the amount of lactose in your milk so you can digest it more easily. Another type is a chewable tablet that you take just before meals or snacks. You can also find many forms of lactose-reduced products in your supermarket.

However, even if you are very careful about foods without milk, this natural sugar can just crop up in some unlikely places. If you are lactose intolerant, you have to be very alert.

For example, whey, the watery liquid that’s left when milk becomes cheese, is in processed foods like crackers. And it contains lactose, so does dry, or powdered, milk. Perhaps most alarming is that about 20 percent of all prescription drugs and 6 percent of all over-the-counter products contain lactose.

Make sure you to read all food and drug labels very carefully before eating a particular food, and ask your pharmacist about any medication you are not sure of.

But even careful attention to labels cannot entirely protect you. According to FDA Consumer magazine, current labeling guidelines leave some loopholes. Manufacturers can use the term “non-dairy” even when the product contains milk by-products. And there are more than a dozen ways to include milk protein in the list of ingredients without actually using the word “milk.”

If you are particularly intolerant, it may be a good idea to limit your processed foods, and avoid anything with unfamiliar ingredients.

All in all there’s a vast variety of options to live with lactose intolerance. Do not let it stop you from enjoying food, however. Try making some substitutions in your recipes. For example, if something calls for dry milk, try using the same amount of water instead. Experiment with different ingredients. You may find some interesting – not to mention tasty – solutions.

Knee pain is getting increasingly more common and more people with these health complaints are going for health care treatment both in medical clinics and chiropractic offices. In the U.S., knee pain accounts for more than 30 percent of all muscle and bone pain cases in doctor visits. The most common complaints pertain to wear and tear issues or osteoarthritis. Other reasons why people have knee pain conditions are sprained ligaments, meniscus tears, runner’s knee and tendonitis. Knee pain is also a special problem among athletes. More than half of all athletes deal with it every year.

Chiropractic can be helpful in the treatment of knee pain. While osteoarthritis is a condition which is not curable, chiropractic treatment can help reduce the symptoms and its progression can be controlled. Chiropractic cannot only help with knee pain but it is also effective for the treatment of many other problems of the knee.

The Knee Joint

Your knees are large complex joints that rely very strongly on muscles and ligaments for stability. They are weight-bearing joints consisting of the following:

Tibio-femoral joints – located between your thighs and lower legs

Patello-femoral joints – located between your knee caps and thighs

Ligaments and muscles – They provide both active and passive stability to the knees.

Menisci – These are two cartilage discs in each of your knee .

Chiropractic Treatment for Knee Pain

Chiropractic treatment will be helpful in the following situations:

When your knee pain is restricting your daily activities or sidelines you from sports activities

When you rely on painkillers and been advised to just rest, and do not see any long-term improvement with your condition

You have been diagnosed with arthritis and told that there is no hope in sight

The chiropractor takes a comprehensive and complete medical history of the patient and performs a thorough examination, both physical and biomechanical, to be able to generate an accurate diagnosis. A successful treatment will be possible only with an accurate diagnosis.

Before the treatment commences, not only the knee joint is examined, but all the other anatomical components such as the low back, hip, pelvis, foot and ankle because of their direct influence on the knee, and the other way around. In certain conditions, the knee pain can be a referred pain from some other structures in the pelvis, low back and hip. There is also a possibility that if other joints in the leg are not working correctly, increased stress is put on the joint in the knee, eventually resulting in injury.

The chiropractor may therefore also treat other areas linked to the knee, for maximized long-term improvement.

The treatment approach given to patients with knee pain is specific to the individual depending on their conditions. What is appropriate for one may not necessarily be the best approach for another. Here’s how a typical program of treatment for knee pain look like:

Stage 1: Reduction of pain and inflammation of the joint through the following:

Avoiding factors that aggravate the condition; Using sports tape for support

Applying specific chiropractic manipulation techniques as well as mobilization techniques to the areas where there is restricted movement. These are employed to bring about increased movement, improved function and reduced pain.

Stage 3: Rehabilitation exercise program. Whenever appropriate, exercise is introduced to improve the patient’s strength, stability and endurance. Other activities to improve balance and proprioception or the sense of position of the joint are also worked on. They will all help the patient return to normal, at the same time prevent new injuries. Tai Chi exercises are really effective in that sense.

Chiropractic care can immensely help in knee pain problems. It can help relieve pain, improve movement, strength and balance and prevent knee pain from recurring.

Arthritis is not just a temporary body pain that you should ignore or take for granted. If it results from infections, you would realize how dangerous it can be!

Officially called septic arthritis, infectious arthritis is an inflammation in a joint resulting from infection. Any joint may be involved, but it is most common in larger ones, such as the hip, or those subject to trauma such as the knee or joints in the hands.

Common Symptoms

You know you are suffering from infectious arthritis if you have moderate to high chills and fever; swelling, tenderness, redness, and pain – usually throbbing – in the affected joint; and pain in the buttocks, thighs, or groin. The throbbing pain sometimes spread to other joints and gets worse with movement.

Causes of Infectious Arthritis

The major cause of infectious arthritis is the entry of germs to a joint in the body, usually bacteria such as streptococci, gonococci, staphylococci, hemophilus, and tubercle bacillus or fungi. These germs usually gain entry from any of the following:

An infection in the body, such as with tuberculosis or gonorrhea

An infection close to the joint, such as with cellulites, skin boils, or bone infection; or

An injury where the joint is affected, including skin abrasions and puncture wounds

Treatment for Infectious Arthritis

As medication treatment for infectious arthritis, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics and codeine or narcotics for a short time to relieve pain.

After appropriate treatments, splints or casts may be necessary to rest the affected joint completely. Movement delays healing, so it is best to stay still and stationary during recovery. After cure, therapy often is necessary to restore joint function. You can resume activities gradually. When signs of infection minimized, your appetite will return, allowing you to once again feel strength. alertness, and a feeling of well-being.

Infectious arthritis is usually curable with early diagnosis and treatment. However, recovery takes weeks or months. Treatment delay may result in a badly damaged joint and loss of movement, requiring joint replacement. Maltreatment or delayed treatment, on the other hand, may cause further complications including delayed antibiotic treatment, blood poisoning, or permanent joint damage.

Are you having walking difficulties because you have bunion in your toe? Well, today is just your lucky day! Here is a guide that will help you cure your bunion and prevent further complications…

Bunions are overgrowth of tissue at the base of the big (great) toe. Bunions may be congenital or hereditary. They often impair athletic performance until it is corrected with medical treatment or surgery.

A bunion may be starting to develop if: an inward-turned great toe overlaps the second-and sometimes the third-toe; thickened skin over the bony protrudes at the base of the great toe; fluid accumulates under the thickened skin; your foot aches and stiffens; and an inflammation and swelling around your bunion takes place.

The primary cause of bunion is an irritation on the bony bump when the big toe is directed toward the little toe. Other risk factors that may help develop the disease include wearing shoes with high heels and narrow toes, compressing the toes together; arthritis; and family history of foot disorders.

To help cure the bunion in your toe and prevent further complications or recurrence, consider the following steps:

Before bedtime, separate the great toe from the others with a foam-rubber pad.

When wearing shoes, put a thick adhesive pad to cover the bunion. Also, you may use arch supports in order to ease the pressure and relieve pain on the bunion. These are available in shoe-repair shops.

For severe cases, have your bunion examined by a doctor. A surgery might be necessary to get rid of the bunion.

If surgery is necessary, you can resume normal activities gradually afterward. However, avoid vigorous exercise for six weeks following surgery. Walk on your heels until the surgical stitch heals. Moreover, elevate your foot bed to reduce swelling over the incision.

During recovery from surgery, make sure that you consume a well-balanced diet that contains equal portions of protein and fiber. Include meat, fish, cheese, milk poultry, and eggs in your meals. Moreover, increase your fluid intake to prevent constipation that normally happens when there is decreased activity.

While bunion may interfere with a lot of activities, it usually improves with treatment and preventive measures to guard against recurrence. See your doctor right away and practice curative measures. In no time, you will be bidding farewell to your bunion.

When you restrict the dairy products you eat or drink, you need to be particularly careful that you get enough calcium and vitamin D. Experiment with these ideas to get good nutrition even when dairy is not on the menu:

Green vegetables like broccoli, kale, watercress, and collard greens are good sources of cow-free calcium. Sweet blackstrap molasses is another natural option. Some packaged foods also have added calcium. In fact, fortified orange juice can have almost as much calcium as milk. Enriched cereals, soy-based foods, canned tomatoes, and stone ground flour can all have calcium added during processing. Read nutrition labels for your best sources.

Sip a milk substitute. Check your health food store or the natural foods aisle for milk substitutes such as rice milk, almond milk, or oat milk. They can be surprisingly tasty and healthy.

For example, oat drinks are usually made from an oat base, with water, oil, vitamins, and flavoring added. They are 100 percent nondairy, contain no lactose, and are low in sodium. And there’s more good news. Since they are a plant product, you don’t have to worry about saturated animal fat and cholesterol either.

Do not forget yogurt contains less lactose than many dairy products, or that research finds bacteria in yogurt may help process that hard-to-digest milk sugar. It may not be the answer for every person with lactose intolerance, but try dipping into some smooth yogurt and see if your stomach tolerates it better than milk.

Even if you do not miss the taste of milk, you will miss the benefits of vitamin D. Fortunately, dairy foods are not the only ones fortified with vitamin D. Read the labels on ready-to-eat cereals until you find some that include vitamin D as one of their fortified nutrients. Try them with a healthy milk substitute. And do not worry if that milk substitute has a little fat. Fat helps your body absorb this vitamin.

Finally, have a healthy two-for-one deal, occasionally. Get both calcium and vitamin D from cold-water fish like salmon, sardines, and herring.

Have you ever experienced waking up and looking in the mirror only to find out that your eyes are swollen and puffy?

Puffy eyes are among the most common facial problems encountered by both men and women. It is normally characterized by fullness of the skin under the eyes. Puffy eyes may create an appearance of tiredness, stress and anxiety. It makes our face look less refreshed and less attractive. Several symptoms of this problem include swelling around the eyes, puffy or swollen eyelids, itchy and watery eyes, redness of the eye and the inability to open and close them.

Common Causes of Puffy Eyes

There are several ways to cure or conceal puffy eyes. However, avoidance is still the best way to address this beauty problem. To be able to avoid puffiness in the eyes, one must know it causes. There are many different factors that are identified to cause puffiness under the eyes. Some of them are as follows:

Puffy eyes are one of the common symptoms of sinusitis or allergies or dermatitis. In these cases, puffiness is usually accompanied by itching or redness and may be cured by certain antibiotics. Consult your doctor for proper treatment.

Puffiness may be caused by changes in your body’s fluid balance, which may be caused by weather changes, travel or hormone fluctuations.

One of the most common causes is lack of or insufficient sleep. Puffiness becomes more apparent or worse during the time that you are awake.

Puffiness may also be caused by too much alcohol intake. Similarly, hangover worsens puffy eye conditions.

It may also be caused by drug induced hypothyroidism, such as lithium.

Puffy eyes may also be a hereditary problem.

Puffiness may also be caused by humectants, which are often one of the ingredients for making moisturizers. Humectants help keep skin hydrated by binding water, however it causes the tissue to retain excess water when applied around the eyes. Some of the most common humectants are glycerin and aloe.

Puffiness may also be caused by insufficient intake of water. Water is essential for flushing toxins out of your system.

Cure for Puffy Eyes

We all have heard of the traditional cucumber remedy. Lean your head backwards and place two cool slices of cucumber over your eyelids. Cucumber has astringent properties, which can constrict the blood vessels near your eye.

Caffeine has the same astringent property of cucumber, which can constrict the blood vessel. So, if you have them at home, put two moistened coffee tea bags instead over your eyelids. You may also use other flavored tea bags. Chill them first for better results.

You may also use potato. Grate the potatoes, chill it and place it over the eyelids. If you do not want to grate, sliced potatoes will do. Use it the same way you use a cucumber. Also try chilled strawberry. Make sure they are properly cleaned first.

Store your facial and eye creams in the refrigerator to chill before using. It has the same rational as the chilled cucumber, strawberry and potato slices.

Apply cool tap water compresses or ice cube wrapped in a paper towel under your eyes.

Tap your skin gently using your ring finger when you are applying eye cream to encourage the excess fluid to drain away.

Apply hemorrhoid cream under the eyes.

Try applying stiffly beaten egg whites under the eyes using a brush. Egg whites can make the skin feel tighter and therefore less puffy.

Rinse your face in cold water.

Chill a spoon in the refrigerator. After about 15 minutes of chilling, put the around the skin of the eye. The coolness of the spoon will help remove puffiness.

A connection between two bones in your body is a joint. Joints, together with their surrounding structures are what allow you to do all sorts of important body movements – walk, bend your knees, turn or bow your head, bend your back, bend your elbows, wiggle your hips and a lot of other necessary actions. Your joints are protected by smooth tissue called cartilage and synovium and synovial fluid, a lubricant that work together to cushion the joints to avoid the bones rubbing together and being damaged. Aging, injury, poor posture or too much body weight can cause wear and tear to your cartilage, which can precipitate a reaction that can bring damage to your joints and ultimately lead to arthritis.

How Spine Misalignments and Arthritis Develop

The human spine develops from infancy. Babies crawl before they are able to walk because this is part of their spinal muscle strengthening process. Crawling also helps maintain proper alignment in their spines as they grow. The number of times an average baby aged four years will have fallen is startling – 4,000! These include some falls and some little falls. It is easy to imagine how some of these falls can cause misalignment or subluxation in the child’s spine. The child’s body will be able to self-correct most of these subluxations and can cause no problems. However, some subluxations that are greater in magnitude will stay in that subluxated condition. If the subluxation stays for along period of time, the side where the subluxation is greatest will get increased pressure. The spine may have to compensate for this imbalanced condition. It will develop other subluxations elsewhere and distortion patterns. Meanwhile, injuries and traumas from impacts and accidents will continue as the child develops into adulthood. They can worsen and cause further damage to the spine and joints.

There will be additional pressure on the side of the vertebra where the greatest subluxation is, causing increased pressure and irritation to the affected nerve in between the vertebra. Osteoarthritis begins this way. The body, after detecting the difference in pressure, will initiate an electrical charge. This electrical charge can do one of two things: One, it interferes with the nerve flow from that nerve exiting between two vertebrae and supplies to the different organs, muscles, joints and tissues. Two, it gathers calcium and attaches them to the affected bone, causing bone spurs. The formation of bone spurs is how the body tries to reinforce an overworked and compressed area. This subluxation-degeneration process is the cause of degenerative arthritis, a damage to the joint.

Chiropractic Care for Arthritis and the Joints

Degenerative arthritis is not age related nor is it hereditary. It has to do with the amount of trauma one has gone through and how well hey have cared for their spine. Through Chiropractic may not be a cure for arthritis but it slows and oftentimes reverses the progression of arthritis after the application of chiropractic adjustments. It is not surprising to find persons in their 70s are who are into regular chiropractic care with no arthritis. On the other end of the spectrum, we find young people in their 20s are who suffer from arthritis because they ignore the proper care for their joints.

While chiropractic adjustments are the centerpiece of chiropractic care, the other aspects of chiropractic care are important as well. In the course of the chiropractic treatment, equal emphasis will be given in the areas of nutrition and nutritional supplementation, lifestyle changes, exercise, and ergonomics, They are part of the holistic approach that chiropractic adopts.

We now realize that chiropractic care should begin right at birth and continue regularly throughout one’s lifetime. Chiropractic care is about maintaining your joints and nervous system’s optimum functions and the highest level of health and quality of life.

Knee pain is one of the most common conditions health care service professionals deal with. About a third of all cases of muscle and bone pain brought to doctors are those involving knee pain. Knee pain from sore knees is also a special condition that athletes have to contend with. More than 50 percent of all athletes struggle with knee pain every year. Some of the common complaints related to knee pain are meniscus or cartilage tear, sprained ligaments, runner’s knee and tendonitis. Also, knee issues associated with wear and tear come up frequently during doctor’s visits.

Symptoms of Knee Pain or Injury

The symptoms depend on the specific knee injury one has, but the following need to be looked out for:

Pain, especially on bending (flexion) or straightening (extension) the knee

Swelling on the knee

Problem with moving the knee

Difficulty bearing weight or load on the knee

Types of Knee Conditions / Causes of Knee Pain

Some of the common knee conditions that cause knee pain are:

Bursitis – The term comes from bursa, a sac of fluid located below the skin that overlays the joints. Swelling and pain to the bursa is caused by repeated kneeling or bending, irritating the bursa that overlays the knee cap or patella.

Dislocated kneecap – Also called patellar dislocation, this condition is characterized by the knee cap sliding out of position, resulting to swelling and pain.

Iliotibial band syndrome – The irritation from overuse and other problems of the iliotibial band, a tough tissue running from the hip downward to the knee, is the cause of the inflammation and pain on the outer knee that characterizes this disorder.

Osteoarthritis – Seen in both athletes and non-athletes, this common cause of knee pain is prevalent to people over age 50.

Patellar tendonitis – This condition comes from the inflammation of tendons that surround the knee. Overuse can cause the inflammation and soreness of these tendons.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome – This condition is common in teenage girls. It is often the result of problems associated with muscle tightness and imbalance and legs alignment.

Treatment of Sore Knees and Knee Pain

The treatment for knee pain will depend on the specific injury or condition. Some mild injuries that cause the knee pain sometimes resolve over time without treatment. Some of the actions prescribed to treat knee pain consist of the following:

Rest the knee and avoid intense activity for a few days.

Use ice to reduce swelling and pain.

Compress the affected knee by using elastic bandage or straps to reduce swelling or add support.

Elevate the knee by using a pillow under the heel, when lying down or sitting, to reduce swelling.

Take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) to relieve pain and swelling. These medications can have some side effects and should only be used at the prescribed period and frequency.

Do strengthening and stretching exercises as your doctor or health care service provider recommends.

Chiropractic Care to Relieve Sore Knees

The knees may not be directly connected to the spine, but chiropractic can certainly treat

sore knees and knee pain. There are factors outside of the knee itself that can cause knee pain. These indirect causes must be corrected to prevent damage or injury to the knee joint and tissues surrounding it. Chiropractors, although known to be capable of restoring alignment in the spine, are also as capable in doing this in the knee. They can restore alignment in the knee’s structures as well as to other linked structures, which might be affected by the dysfunction in the knee, such as the lower back or hip. One of the common causes of knee pain is muscle imbalances and misalignment in the structures around the knee, hip and ankle joints from overuse, poor posture, physical trauma and repetitive stress. Chiropractic adjustments of the spine, hips and patella-femoral joint can help restore the joints into proper alignment.

Also, since one joint can ultimately have a significant impact on another joint, it is easy to see how an adjustment in the spine can treat an abnormality in the knee joint. The spine is connected to the pelvis, which is connected to the hip, which is connected to the leg bone, which is connected to the knee.

Chiropractic care can alleviate stress in the knee, reduce inflammation and facilitate its healing as well as of the surrounding structures it is connected and functions with.

These slow, meditative movements are designed to gather your inner energy, and then percolate it through your body. Your attention is drawn inward so you can become aware of your inner energy and feel it circulating. These moves increase body strength, as well as upper body agility and coordination. As you flow from one move to the next, imagine blood surging through your body leaving feeling energized and relaxed.

Directions: do the first move 4 times. Then do the next 3 moves as sequence; repeat 4-6 times, alternating sides each time, while breathing slowly and easy. Remember to take your time with each step.

Embrace the moon. In neutral position, inhale and hold an imaginary ball as you bring right heel toward left ankle, ball of right foot on the ground, right knee bent and turned out to the side (T-step)

Part Horse’s Mane. From embrace the moon, exhale and step sideways with your right foot; then bent into a lunge right knee in line with ankle, right foot turned out at 90 degrees; left foot, 45 degrees (feet are separated a little wide than shoulder-width apart). At the same time, extend right arm in front of chest, elbow curved with palm upward. Press left hand in front of left thigh, flexing wrist up, palm flat; keep left elbow slightly curved.

Brush knee and push right. From part horse’s mane, inhale and rock backwards as if to sit on left leg with all of your body weight; keep left knee out and lift right toes. At the same time, lift elbow so palm is by forehead and fold right arm across chest, palm down. Exhale, shift forward into another lunge, pushing left and forward, palms facing out as you press right hand down toward the outside of your right leg.

To reverse the sequence, from the Horse’s Mane, rock backward and rotate torso to face front, body weight balanced over left heel. Shift weight to right foot and Embrace the Moon, this time with right hand on top of the left and left for in a T-step. Repeat sequence on left side.

The advent of modern technology and automation has caused many work activities to be limited in both physical scope and actions. What used to be an office work that involves a variety of physical movements is now normally just an 8 to 5 work in front of a computer. Also, based on the application of time-and-motion principle in the industrial setting, a worker is deemed more efficient doing only one or a few process steps or motions. These changes have led to the increase in the incidence of repetitive stress injuries among workers.

Repetitive stress injury (RSI) pertains to the condition resulting from excessive stress placed on a joint in the body and is linked to the stress of repetitive motions at work or at play, for that matter. Stress of repetitive motions from heavy computer use, extended hours in electronic games, prolonged texting, playing musical instruments for long periods, overuse injuries in sports and repetitive motion of sports like tennis are common examples of RSIs.

There are a number of health conditions resulting from RSIs including carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis, cervical radiculopathy, tendonitis, ganglion cyst and reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which are all associated with the muscles, tendons and nerves.

Certain specific causes have been identified to be common in inducing RSI and they include overuse of particular muscles or group of muscles, poor posture, cold temperatures, vibrating equipment, carrying heavy loads, and fatigue.

Preventing RSI

There are some precautions that you can take to prevent the onset of RSI:

Maintain good posture. It is crucial to your overall health and well being. Be conscious of how you stand, sit and move around – postural awareness.

Have an ergonomic chair and position and adjust all your equipment and furniture (table, keyboard, monitor, mouse, printer, etc.) to give you the most optimum comfort and ease of movement.

When working on your computer:

Keep your wrists straight.

Let your hands float on the keyboard, and not resting on the desk or keyboard.

Avoid straining your fingers. Type with minimum movements and with a light touch. Use two hands to type combination keys.

Take breaks like every hour especially when you work on the computer.

Take the opportunity to do stretching and exercise during breaks, especially strengthening exercise for the back and neck.

Practice correct breathing.

Practice relaxation techniques.

Experts maintain that if you want to eliminate the root causes of RSI, your focus must be more on stretching, strengthening, and constantly working towards your maintaining proper body alignment and posture.

Repetitive stress injury can happen to anyone, and that includes you. Let your awareness of RSI be the start for you to consciously avoid repetitive stress-induced injury in your joint.